Well I scrapped my arm up pretty bad, but it was totally worth it.
We discovered an Agricultural Center close to us a while back but didn’t realize its vast amount of nature paths, animals and creeks. So now that we’re homeschooling we have started going there practically once a week.
Then we hit the jackpot. We found an ENORMOUS tree with the perfect branches for climbing up and relaxing in...or pretending that we were riding horseback as my girls preferred to do. No Johnny Appleseed moments of reading here.
After helping the girls climb up I took it upon myself to forget that I’m a mother of three and haven’t climbed a tree in years, and scrambled up. It was probably the least attractive looking thing I’ve done in a good long while but it was totally worth it.
This tree is easily over 100 years old and it held us so comfortably. What a reminder that things that are steadfast are strong and powerful and can withstand the silliness of the culture and climate around them.
So, what’s the point?
Y’all we may not care tons about the environment today, or what we buy or how we dispose of our crap but one day it’ll come back to us. What if my kids children don’t have these beautiful trees to climb up on and feel like their 1,000 feet off the ground?
The best way to understand how much humanity has impacted nature is to get out in it - see how there are parking lots everywhere, how you can hear the highway even deep into a trail, that you can pick up trash along the way that could hurt the wildlife.
Plus, the more we’re out in nature just being the more we’ll notice our kids enjoying it, relaxing in it and being concerned for it.
Our kids won’t learn how to love our planet well by osmosis. Our kids are hands on learners and thinkers and feelers.
Here’s an experiment for you to do with your kids. Go to a well forested area close to you - even if it’s the open lot across the street. Get your kids to climb up that tree and linger, even just for ten minutes. Tell them to close their eyes and trust their bodies to the height and vulnerability of the wind. And then just observe them and what they begin to play and pretend and do.
It’ll remind you of a time when you did the same thing so care free, and hopefully it’ll fill your bucket up again. Hopefully it’ll remind your children of imagination and the world they live in.
And hey, if they break an arm, what an awesome story it’ll be. :-)
Go climb a tree!
